Physical Education At Belmont
Intent
Physical Education (PE) develops the children’s knowledge, skills and understanding so that they can access a range of physical activities, whilst initially at their own individual levels, with increased skills and competence. These include dance, games, gymnastics, swimming and water safety, athletics and outdoor adventure activities. Physical Education seeks to promote an understanding in children of their bodies in action. It involves decision-making and application of skills, as well as the establishment and maintenance of a growth mindset and positive attitude to tackle a myriad of physical and psychological challenges.
The aims of PE are:
- To encourage a physically active lifestyle.
- To achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of physical fitness.
- To demonstrates responsible personal and social behaviour in physical activity settings.
- To equip pupils to demonstrate competency in many movement forms and proficiency in a few.
- To apply movement concepts and principles to the learning and development of motor skills.
Implementation
A variety of teaching and learning styles are in effect during PE lessons; this enables practioners to address the diversity of the curriculum in addition to accounting for the needs of all learners. The chief aim is to develop children’s knowledge skills and understanding. As a result, lessons feature a combination of whole-class teaching and individual/grouped activities. The former enables pupils to work collaboratively, simultaneously also imbuing some exercises with a competitive element. To facilitate learning, teachers can exhibit good examples of skills personally or highlight individual performances amongst pupils. These instances can function as models for other students, allowing them to progress their skills and provide a platform for evaluation of each other and themselves.
To ensure high standards of teaching and learning in Physical Education, we implement a curriculum that is progressive throughout the whole school. Physical Education is taught twice a week, with additional activities planned and implemented to enhance physical development, health and well-being using the vast outdoor field, school hall or outdoor gym. All children have a weekly PE lesson with their class teacher and have weekly sessions with a qualified coach from Be Active. During these lessons, pupils receive expert coaching to develop fundamental skills through a variety of activities and games suitable to their key stage. Children also have the opportunity to further these skills at after school sports clubs thus making club links within the community for specific sports. We have an inclusive approach and value the importance of physical and mental well-being.
Within classes, the physical ability and requirements of children will differ. In recognition of this, we aim to provide apt learning opportunities for all by setting challenges to coincide with pupils’ abilities. This is achieved by:
- Setting common tasks with a variety of possible results
- Grouping pupils for certain activities based on abilities
- Grouping pupils in an attempt to establish an equilibrium in abilities
- Providing a range of challenge through the provision of different resources.
- Being open to adapt activities to suit the needs of the children.
Impact
A high-quality physical education curriculum inspires all pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other pursuit requiring a similarly physically and psychologically demanding effort. It aims to give pupils the chance to improve and become more physically literate, subsequently supporting their health and fitness. Additionally, for a proportion of those who participate, they will have the opportunity to further develop and test their skills in inter-school competition. It will allow them to build character and help to facilitate a greater understanding of key values for their progression as individuals, such as respect for other, inclusivity and equality. We aim for all Year 6 pupils to leave school with the skills to competently swim at least 25m and have the skills to self-rescue in the water, which are key life skills.
